Altitude Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart

• 1Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 1)02:18
• 2Country Star03:05
• 3Sitting Alone02:54
• 4A Friend Of Mine03:47
• 5Space05:02
• 6Altitude03:47
• 7Vegas03:37
• 8The Sun Is Quietly Sleeping02:57
• 9Lost Byrd Space Train (Scene 2)01:15
• 10Nightriding04:53
• 11Tomahawk04:49
• 12Time To Dance03:08
• 13The Angels Came Down03:39
• 14Lost Byrd Space Train (Epilogue)00:31
• Total Runtime45:42

Info for Altitude

Country Music Hall of Famer, five-time Grammy-winner, and AMA Lifetime Achievement honoree Marty Stuart picks up where he left off on Altitude, his first new album in five years, exploring a cosmic country landscape populated by dreamers and drifters, misfits and angels, honky-tonk heroes and lonesome lovers.

There's a desert flare to the music here, a sweeping, spacious feel that conjures up wide-open horizons and endless stretches of two-lane highway, and the production is raw and cinematic to match, tipping it's cap both to Bakersfield and Laurel Canyon as it balances jangle and twang in equal measure. While it would be easy for an artist as accomplished as Stuart to rest on his laurels,

Altitude instead showcases the work of a searcher with an insatiable appetite for growth and reflection, one whose ambition, much like his keen wit and rich imagination, only seems to grow with each and every release. Born and raised in Philadelphia, MS, Stuart got his start in bluegrass legend Lester Flatts' band at the tender age of thirteen, and by twenty-one, he was working in the studio and on the road with Johnny Cash.

Though Stuart built his early reputation backing up royalty, it wasn't long before Nashville recognized him as a star in his own right, and over the course of forty-plus years as a solo artist, he would go on to release more than twenty major label albums, scoring platinum sales, hit singles, and just about every honor the industry can bestow along the way.

Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives

Marty Stuart
Multi-talented singer-songwriter and musician Marty Stuart fell in love with country music at an early age. His mother had named him after her favorite country singer, Marty Robbins, and given him his first guitar when he was only three. As a young boy, he met bluegrass icon Bill Monroe, signing autographs after a concert.

And he gave me his mandolin pick. He said, “Do you want to play the mandolin, boy?” I said, “Yes, sir, just like you.” He said, “This right here will help you out.” And I carried that pick to school with me every day like it was kryptonite in my pocket. I felt special because I had something in my pocket that nobody else had and nobody else knew about.

Marty taught himself to play mandolin and guitar and, by 12, was playing in a bluegrass group. The following year, after sitting in with Lester Flatt’s band, The Nashville Grass, he was asked to join the band as a permanent member, just shy of his fourteenth birthday. After Flatt died, Stuart joined Johnny Cash’s band. He worked with Cash for six years, and married Cash’s daughter Cindy in 1983.

Stuart signed a solo recording contract with MCA in 1989 and released two critically and commercially successful albums – Hillbilly Rock and Tempted – in quick succession, producing four Top 10 hits. In 1991, he co-wrote “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” with fellow new traditionalist, Travis Tritt. The song was a No. 2 hit and garnered Stuart and Tritt the 1992 GRAMMY Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The two hit the road on an equally successful “No Hats” tour – a reference to the “hat acts” dominating country music at the time.

Since 2002, Stuart has recorded and toured with his band, the Fabulous Superlatives, featuring musicians Kenny Vaughn on guitar, Harry Stinson on drums, and – since 2015 – Chris Scruggs on steel guitar and bass. His television variety program The Marty Stuart Show features classic country performances and is a regular feature on the RFD cable network. In 2005, he launched his own label, Superlatone Records, to issue overlooked gospel and roots music.

Stuart is passionate about preserving country music history and has become an accomplished photographer of its stars. In 1996, he served his first term as president of the Country Music Foundation, a position he would hold through 2002. His collection of country music photography and memorabilia has been exhibited at museums around the country and has found a permanent home at the Congress of Country Music in Stuart’s hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

In 1997, Marty married legendary country singer Connie Smith, the fulfillment of a longtime pledge he’d made to his mother to make Connie his wife after seeing Connie perform.

When she stepped out onstage, she was breathtakingly beautiful. And I got my picture made with her that night. I got her autograph. And she didn’t really notice me. . . . But, on the way home that night, I declared that I was going to marry Connie Smith one day. And twenty-five years later, I did.

This album contains no booklet.